This years festival theme keeps me asking
the question, what song lies upon the hearts of the Fae?
What magick lies in this making? Any theme invoking the
realm of the Fae bares very careful consideration. At the
heart of the matter though lies that aforementioned song,
that haunting melody about Samhain that echoes in my mind.

The Fae set a lush feast for those making the great journey
to the Summerlands. Their attention to this thinnest of
places in the veil has offered us glimpses into this world
more fantastical than our mortal minds can barely conceive.
In the in between spaces, the most magickal places, where
the veils are thinnest, where magick blends out the edges
of this world and that, where in a chance mist, or twilight,
one catches a glimmer of their realm. The allure of the
luminescent ones has lead many a magick folk astray.

Since we chose the theme earlier this year, I have pondered
the song of the Fae in relationship to our village and her
story. I remember the procession we made the Samhain after
the tragedy of 9/11 and the way time folded around us as
we made that somber journey. Comparatively with the devastation
of Katrina, and the manner in which so many of those lives
were lost, the long agony of so many who crossed, I ponder
the work before us this Samhain.

As a magickal folk we are a tuned to the pain of those passing.
As a people, just like the Fae, at Samhain we have magickal
responsibilities that we are acutely aware of, especially
this season.

This Samhain as we gather to observe another turning of
the wheel, we must consider what lies at those veils and
prepare for the work our Gods give us to do. At those veils
are the souls of many who suffering will haunt us for all
our days.

May the Ancients guide us in these workings as a village,
as an extended family, and community into this most somber
of seasons. May they guide you home to our village safely.